Valve mechanism for internal-combustion engines.



H. P. E. MILLER.

VALVE MECHANISM FOR INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 2a 1913.

1, 1 1 2,225, Patented Sept. 29, 1914.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 1,

THE NORRIS PETERS C0,. PHOTO-LITHO.. WASHINGTON. D. c.

H. P. E. MILLER. VALVE MECHANISM FOR INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES.

APPLICATION IILED SEPT. 26, 1913.

Patented Sept. 29, 1914.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2 0, WASHINGTON. II C.

H. P. E. MILLER.

VALVE MECHANISM FOR INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES.

APPLIOATION FILED SEPT. 26, 1913.

1, 1 1 2,225. Patented Sept. 29,1914.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 8.

Witnesses;- ,fiu en/tor.

THE NuRRls -"rER-s co, PHOTOLITHOH WASHINGTON, I)v c.

HER-MAN PHILIP nnnrsnu MILLER, or nonmivwoon, OLDHAM, ENGLAND.

VALVE MECHANISM FOR INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed September 26, 1913. Serial No. 791,983.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HERMAN PHILIP Eumsnn MILLER, a subject of the Kingof England, residing at Hollinwood, Oldham, in the county of Lancaster,England, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the ValveMechanism of Internallonibustion and other Engines, of which thefollowing is a specification.

This invention is for improvements in or relating to mechanism foroperating valves of internal combustion and other engines.

As is well known, internal combustion engines working on the Otto cycleusually have the valve operated by a cam shaft which rotates at halftheangular velocity of the crank shaft, or if the valve is of the rotarytype, it is connected to a member which is rotated at half the angularvelocity of the crank shaft. This necessitates that the movement of thevalve for opening and closing is comparatively slow and a greateretliciency could be obtained if the movement to the full open positionand to the closing position could be effected more quickly, although thecycle of operations of the valve must, of course, still synchronize withthe cycle of operations of the engine.

According to the present invention, valve mechanism for an internalcombustion engine working on the Otto cycle comprises in combination, arotary valve, a member which r tates continuously at the same angularvelocity as the crank shaft, and means for automatically el'l'ectingrigid connection between the valve and the said continuously rotatingmember for moving the valve into the open and closed positions rapidly,and for automatically disconnecting the valve from the said continuouslyrotating memher for the periods of dwell, whereby the Otto cycle iscarried out with improved efficiency.

The continuously rotating member may be arranged to first carry thevalve body forward (say a distance of 14C") for open ing the inlet, thentravels free of the valve body for a considerable distance (about 180)during the suction period, whereupon it again picks up the valve bodyand aidvances it (say for 346) during the compression and firingstrokes, again releases it and travels forward free for about 180 duringthe exhaust, period to bring itto the point whence it started, whichcycle is continuously repeated.

The present invention may be applied to a valve body or valve-operatlngbody which, according to known mechanism, has two operating studs inconstant operative engage ment with it, the said studs being each inturn carried forward by a driving cam and released therefrom. In thismechanism, the driving cam was rotated at half the angular speed of thecrank shaft and the studs when released from the cam were returned bysprings so that the valve or valve-operating body had a rockingmovement. In applying the present invention to mechanism of this typefor internal combustion or other engines, the said mechanism is modifiedby the cam being driven at the same angular velocity as the crank shaftand the guiding means being made such that both studs can travelcompletely around the axis of rotation of the cam, and each stud is, inturn, picked up by and released from the cam at intervals, the relativearrangement of the studs, guiding means and cams being such that whenone stud has been carried around by the cam and i then released, theother has been broughtinto the path of the cam by the movement of thevalve body effected through the medium of the first stud. By

this means the valve body receives an intermittent rotary motion and nospring is required for returningthe valve body as its movement is alwaysin one direction.

The guide for the studs takes the form of a channel surrounding the camand having two or more pockets in that wall of thechannel which facesthe cam to receive the studs, said studs (or it may be the recesses)being arranged at points around the axis of rotation of the cam otherthan 180 apart, so that when one stud has been pushed into a recess, theother is in a position to be caught bythe cam.

A further feature of the invention, as

applied to a construction wherein the cam PatentedSept. 29, 1914.

itself forms one wall of the channel for the studs and a fixed plateforms the other wall, consists in providing a camber on that part of thecam which leads up to the driving face, and a corresponding camber inthe opposed wall provided by the fixed plate, so that the cam will pickup and start each stud in motion before the driving face is brought intocontact with the stud, thereby avoiding knocking. "One of the pocketsand one of the studs may be so arranged that the said stud can neverenter that particular pocket whereby the cam may be compelled to givepractically a complete revolution to the valve-body at given intervals.

In the accompanying drawings which illustrate one method of carrying outthis invention :F igure 1 shows part of an engine cylinder with two setsof valve mechanism, one of which is shown in elevation and the other intransverse section through the valvedoody; an outer plate which wouldobscure the parts shown on the left of I is omitted from this figure.Fig. 2 is a section through tl e valve-mechanism on the line 2-2 of Fig.1, with the outer plate in position; Fig. 3 is an elevation of the partsshown in Fig. 2 viewed from the left of that figure, Fig. 4t is a faceview of a detail, and Fig. 5 is a section similar to Fig. 2 with thevalve body removed and a valveoperating body or. cam sleeve substitutedtherefor.

Like letters indicate like parts throughout the drawings.

The cylinder Al has two oppositely disposed ports A A respectively, andin the cylinder head an exhaust passage A is provided which has twobranch passages A A respectively. At the sides of the cylinder oppositethe ports A A are two enl'ar ements A A and in each enlar ement acylindrical chamber A is provided which contains a rotary valve B. Onlyone valve and valve mechanism is required for the cylinder, but in somecases, for example for aeroplanes, it is desirable to have two lots ofvalve mechanism so that should one get out of order, the other can beinstantly used in its place.

In the .drawing,.the valve-body B is shown in the position which itwould occupy when the valve mechanism is in the position indicated onthe left-hand side of the figure if such mechanism were operating thatvalve, and it may therefore be referred to as if it were the valveoperated by that mechanism. The valve may take any convenient form, butis cored through at B and has a side cavity at B An induction conduit Cfor explosive mixture communicates with the chamber A at C and the coredpassage B -can be brought into such positionas to connect the port Gwith the port A as shown in Fig. 1, and the cavity B is suflicientlylarge to connect the port A with the exhaust passage A.

In the front face of the valve-body B or in a plate secured to it, tworadial slots B", B respectively are provided and in these slide shoes DE which carry studs 1) and E respectively. Springs 1) and E tend to pushthe shoes D E outwardly. The shoe E is longer than the shoe D and hasits outer end normally in close proximity to the housing A of thevalve-body, but at one point the housing is cut away or recessed asshown at A so that the shoe when the valve is in such position as tobring it opposite this point, can move outwardly.

Over the shoes D E and rigidly sccured to the housing of the valve byany convenient means such as the set-screw I a frame comprising twoseparable parts Gs, G The part G takes the form of a ring having on itsinterior face an inwardly-directed flange G and in the inner face twopockets or recesses G, G respectively. The pocket Gr is situated at thesame angular position as the recess A formed by cutting away thehousing. The flange G is on that edge of the ring which lies next to thevalve-body and the pockets are farther from the valve-body than theflange. The part G also takes the form of a ring and is secured to thepart G by screws G and has in its inner periphery recesses G, Gcorresponding to the pockets or recesses G3, G.

A. driving shaft H which is mounted concentrically with the valve-body Bbut is not fast to the same, projects beyond the valve-body and extendsinto the frame Gr, G Fast on the shaft H is a cam H which lies withinthe member G and between the flange G and part G The cam has a drivingface H On the studs D, E, rollers (Z, c are mounted and these are ofsuch width that they fill the space between the flange G and the ring orplate G and are thus guided and kept in position by these parts. Therollers thus help to support the studs D, E and to further guide andassist in their support, a washer G of the same thickness as the flangeG is placed around the shaft II, the washer being of such dimensionsthat a channel is left between it and the flange G in which the stud canrun as a working fit. Similarly a disk G is secured to the end of theshaft H in the same plane as the ring or plate G and helps to supportthe outer ends of the studs D and E. It will be observed, however, thatthe rollers operate between the main body portion of the ring G and thecam H so that the space between these two parts constitutes the guideproper for the studs D and E.

llb

The operation of this mechanism is as follows :-When the mechanism isin-the position shown on the left of Fig. 1, the valvebody operated bysuch mechanism is in the same position as is indicated by the valve 13on the right, that is to say mixture is being admitted through the portA to the cylinder A. For convenience, however, we will suppose that themechanism on the left is superimposed upon the valve on the right,which, as already stated, would be provided with operating mechanism ofexactly the same construction, so that mixture is being admitted throughthe port C the cored passage B and the port'A to the cylinder, and boththe ports C and A are wide open. The cam H is moved inthe direction ofthe arrow thereon at the same speed as the engine shaft, and as the studD has been pushed into the pocket G by its spring D ,'the cam H can passit without displacing it. The valve-body B therefore remains stationaryuntil the driving face H of the cam is brought against the roller of thestud E which lies in its path. The stud is then advanced and thereby thevalvebody is advanced in a clockwise direction and owing to the factthat the shaft H rotates at engine speed, only a small angular movement,about 10, of the engine shaft is required to bring the valve intotheposition for closing the inlet. The further movement of the cam Hcarries the stud E around with it and continues to rotate the valve B inthe clockwise direction for practically a complete revolution (that isabout 316) during the compression and firing strokes. E is longer thanthe-shoe D and therefore when the stud arrives opposite the recess G itcannot enter the same as its shoe butts against the wall of the housingA. It is this that enables the cam to carry it around for nearly acomplete revolution, after which it drops into the recess G as thehousing at this point is cut away at A to permit the shoe to moveoutward. In the recess G the cam leaves it and the valve B has now beenbrought to such position that the cavity B puts the ports A A into,communication with each other for full ex-' haust. The stud D may moveout into the recess Gr when the cam is moving the valve by means of thestud E; when it enters the recess, however, the cam continues to movethe stud E and the stud D is therefore brought forward again out of therecess since it can not lock the valve body in that position against thecontinued action of the cam. The exhaust port begins to open when thevalve is about 30 from its position of rest with the stud E in therecess G but it is completely open when the stud is brought to the saidposition of rest. The stud D now lies in the path of the cam H The studE is the one whose shoe and after traveling about half a revolution(180), the drivingface of the cam strikes the roller (l of the stud Dand again moves the valve-body forward until the stud is opposite therecess G when the shoe D which is the short one, is advanced by thespring, and the stud thereby enters the recess and clears the cam.During this movement, the valve-body B has once again been broughtaround into the position for inlet and the stud E, by the movement ofthe valve B, has been drawn out of the recess (1* and again lies in thepath of the cam ready for the latterto strike it and carry it forwardfor the purpose of closing the inlet prior to compression. This cycle ofoperations is continuously repeated, and it will be seen that as the camH is traveling at engine speed, the movement of the valves whether forclosing or openingis rapid, and the valve can be made to remain open forinduction or exhaust for suchperiod as will produce the best possibleresults.

It will be observed that since the recesses G G are not diametricallyopposite each other, but are set apart at an angle other than 180,andsince thestuds are set apart at an angle, of 180, whenone of thestuds is in one of the recesses, the other stud is necessarily not inthe other recess, but is in the path of the cam; moreover, the relativedisplacement of these two recesses will control the interval duringwhich the cam is in engagementwith neither stud and will, therefore,control the interval which elapses between the closing ofthe inlet andthe opening, of the exhaust.

In order that the driving face of the cam line which shows what wouldbethe con tinuation of the circular portion. Similarly eral is circular,is recessed at g. It follows therefore that when the cam is about topick up a roller, the enlarged part it first comes into contact with theroller, and begins to roll it along the face of the part G,

but as the roller comes opposite the recessed portion 9 of the saidface, the cam gains upon it although still keeping it in movement, untilthe driving face H comes against the roller without violence; the

. valve-body is thus kept in motion gradually and without shock.

It will be observed that the valve-body B controls three ports in itshousing A A and C whereof the cylinder-port A and the induction port Caresepara-ted by not more thanabout 140 aS measured from center tocenter, and the exhaust port A the inner face of the part G which ingenis situated intermediate of these two (within the said anglev of 140)the ports in the valve-body being correspondingly situated within an arcof 14-0 of its circumference. The advantage of this arrangement is thatwhile the ports can be of sufficient dimensions to render themefiective, a considerable body of metal can be disposed between theleading edge of the exhaust port and the inlet port, and the main bodyof the valve can be employed to close the cylinderport duringcompression and firing.

It will be appreciated that this mechanism'can be used to drive the camsfor operating puppet valves instead of driving the rotary valves, andsuch an adaptation is shown in Fig. 5 where the valve-body B isdispensed with and a cam-sleeve J is substituted therefor. The sleeve isshown as having two cams J against which puppetvalve operating rods Jbear, and are operated in the usual well-known manner.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patentis 1. In valve mechanism the combination of a continuously rotatingdriving member, a rotary valve-operating body, studs rotatabletherewithand movable radially thereto into and out of engagement withsaid driving member, guiding means cooperating with said studs wherebywhen one stud has been carried around by the driving 2. In valvemechanism, the combination of a continuously'rotating driving finger, arotary valve-operating body, studs movable radially thereto but rotatingtherewith, and

guiding means. providing a channel surrounding said finger and whereinsaid studs move when engaged. by said finger, the channel having aplurality of pockets in its outer wall to receive said studs when notengaged by said finger, said pockets being disposed other thandiametrically opposite one another, substantially as described.

3. In valve mechanism, the combination of a rotary valve operating body,studs movable radially thereto but rotating therewith, guiding meansproviding a channel wherein said studs move, a driving finger having acentral hub constituting one side of said channel, a driving face onsaid finger whereby saidstuds are moved in said channel, said channelhaving a plurality of pockets in its outer wall whereinto said studs aremoved out of engagement with said driving face, said pockets beingdisposed other than diametrically opposite one another, and a camberedportion on the central hub of said driving finger adjacent said drivingface and engaging said studs, substantially as described.

4. In valve mechanism, the combination of a continuously rotatingdriving finger, a rotary valveopcrating body, a plurality of studsmovable radially thereto but rotat ing therewith, guiding meansproviding a channel surrounding said driving finger, said channel havinga plurality of pockets in its outer wall whereinto said studs are movedwhen brought opposite them, and means preventing one of said studs fromentering one of said pockets, substantially as described.

In valve mechanism, the combination of a continuously rotating drivingfinger, a rotary valve-operating body having radial slcts therein, shoesmovable longitudinally in said slots, studs on said shoes, guiding meansproviding a channel surrounding said driving finger, said channel havinga plurality of pockets in its outer wall whereiuto said studs are moved.out of engagement with said driving face, a casing surrounding saidvalve-operating body. and limiting the radial travel of said shoes, oneof said shoes being of such length as to prevent its stud from enteringsaid pockets, and a recess in said outer casing permitting said shoe tomove outward opposite one pocket whereby said stud enters said pocket,substantially as described. member and then released the other has i 6.In an internal combustion engine, the

combination of a crank shaft, a valvc-opcrating shaft rotating at thesame speed. as

isaid crank shaft, a driving finger on said 1 valve-operating shaft, arotary valve-ope nting body, studs movable radially thereto and rotatingtherewith, guiding means pro- Ividing a channel surrounding said drivingvfinger wherein said studs move when ongaged by said finger, saidchannel. having a plurality of pockets in its outer wall to receive saidstuds when not engaged by said finger, said pockets being disposed.other than diametrically opposite one another, substantially asdescribed.

7. In valve mechanism, the combination of a. continuously rotatingdriving member, a rotary valve-operating body, studs movable radiallythereto but rotating therewith, guiding means providing a channelsurrounding said driving member and wherein said studs move when engagedby said memher, the channel having a plurality of pockets in its outerwall to receive said studs when not engaged by said driving member, saidpockets being disposed other than diametrically opposite one another, arotary valve opcratively connected to said valve-operating member, ahousing for said valve, said housing having a cylinder port, and aninduction port not more than 140 apart, and an exhaust port situatedbetween said ports, said rotary valve having a pas- In testimony whereofI have signed my sage whereby said induction port con1muniname to thisspecification in the'presence of 10 cates intermittently with saidcylinder port, two subscribing Witnesses;

and a cavity hereby said cylinder port HERMAN PHILIP ERIKSEN MILLERcommunicates intermittently with sand exliaust port the ends of saidpassage and Witnesses:

said cavity being disposed Within an arc of A. M. HAYWARD, 140;substantially as described. HAROLD H. SIMMONS.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. c."

